Sam Burgess will be a key driving force in England’s Rugby World Cup campaign and could yet feature in the line-up for the opening match against Fiji, according to England’s backs coach, Andy Farrell. The former Great Britain rugby league captain says Burgess has now “thrown away his L-plates” and is poised to make a big impact on the tournament.
Farrell knows all about the challenge facing Burgess, having featured in the 2007 World Cup after switching codes. England made it to the final and the coach believes the pressure of top-class tournament rugby, regardless of the position Burgess fills, will bring out the warrior instinct that earned him universal respect in Australian rugby league.
“I don’t think he’ll find it tough,” said Farrell, unfazed by Burgess’s lack of Test union experience. “He’s been picked because he’s been there in big games before and has experience of dealing with the expectation. When you’re top of the tree in your sport there’s a hell of a lot of pressure. He’s had that pressure constantly, throughout his career.
“His selection in this squad will allow him to be the player he wants to be. We don’t think he’s a million miles away. We wouldn’t have selected him otherwise. He’s pretty accurate in a lot of things he does and what he brings – and always brought in the other code – is an ability to apply those skills in a Test arena. He’s confident of doing that and we see that. He hasn’t got his L-plates on any more, that’s for sure.”
Farrell also firmly suspects Burgess will not settle for an understudy role. “I’m sure he’s not thinking he’s just here to take part. That would be a complete waste. The door has to be open for every player in his position and things will change that shape our mind. We have to pick the best squad to take on Fiji and start the competition well, that has to be in the forefront of our minds.”
As well as concentrating Australian minds – “They’ll be intrigued … he’s made a few headlines down there in the not-too-distant past” – Farrell fully expects the 26-year-old to inspire those around him in the dressing-room. “There’ll be a little relief off his shoulders that he can start being himself. Leaders will start to emerge over the next couple of weeks and I’m sure Sam will be part of that. He brings something off the field that others don’t and that helps the whole package. People follow and he’s pretty important in our squad of 31 in terms of the pressures we are about to experience.”
Regardless of whether Burgess propels England to glory or not, Farrell also insists the Bath player has more than merited his place in the squad. “You don’t send a guy home who has been as impressive as Sam has been over the past 10 weeks. He’s forced our hand and he should feel an immense amount of pride.
“Being a dual-code international is special. There was a big challenge for me, as there is for Sam now. As a rugby league player coming into rugby union there is extra scrutiny. Any player can miss a ruck or not take an opportunity. Sam can’t allow that otherwise people are going to jump on top of him and say he can’t do it because of his lack of experience. But we’ve been very impressed with his all-round game. He’s nailed most things in the time we have had together.”
Farrell and his fellow coaches have granted the players the weekend off but accept there will be no room for sluggishness before the side’s final warm-up game against Ireland next Saturday. Stuart Lancaster says he will not pick the same starting XV to face the Irish as will line up against Fiji on 18 September but, whoever plays, there is already a clear desire to erase the memory of last week’s poor performance in Paris.
“We need to get our act together against Ireland and get ourselves to a place where we’re absolutely buzzing,” said Farrell. “But it’s exciting now. We always thought we’d have a hell of a squad and we have. We have players who understand what it takes to take the team forward and give us our best shot of winning.”
